Larry Clark

Already actively engaged with painting and photography when he enrolled in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, writer-director Larry Clark brought his established artistic practice to bear on his work as a filmmaker. “I think of my paintings and photos as a part of my creative process that informed my film work,” Clark has said. “Film is more than celluloid or digital material. Film encompasses all of the arts.” With this expansive vision of cinema and its possibilities, Clark became a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion, a group of Black filmmakers at UCLA—including Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Haile Gerima and Billy Woodbury—who forged new cinema aesthetics that could be responsive to the spiritual, cultural and political needs of the Black community. Clark’s best known works, including Passing Through (1977) and As Above, So Below (1973), are galvanizing constructions of sound and image, composition and montage, that stand as landmarks of American independent cinema. The Archive is honored to present this weekend-long survey of Clark’s filmography with Clark in person to discuss his career and practice at every screening.

Special thanks to our community partners: Los Angeles Filmforum, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.